Title IX and college athletics: Noble intentions and faulty execution

On June 23 1972, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 was passed into law. The law states simply that “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance”(US Dept of Labor). Although the law was designed to broadly discourage sexual discrimination everywhere in society and initially made no reference to specific institutions or facets of society, the most widely debated impact that Title IX has had on our society has been the law’s effect on the dynamics of men’s and women’s college athletics

[...] are substantially proportionate to the student enrollment” in order to be in adherence with Title IX (Wushanley 76) The resulting changes in college athletics have been both positive and negative. Women have benefited greatly from the new law, as “Women and girls across the United States, spurred by the opportunities created by Title IX . are playing sports in record numbers. More than 135,000 women currently participate in college sports, up from 30,000 in 1971” (Harvard Law Review 1627). However, the effect that the sport has had on men’s athletics has been troubling. [...]

[...] Success of Title IX From the standpoint of creating opportunities and stimulating participation in sports for women in high school and college athletics, Title IX has succeeded tremendously. The American Association of University Women (AAUW) writes: Title IX’s impact on women’s athletic participation is one of the country’s greatest success stories. It has changed the playing field dramatically for girls and women in sports. In 1971, seven percent of high school varsity athletes were young women but thirty years later, nearly 2.8 million young women representing 41.5 percent of high school varsity athletes were women. [...]

[...] Many of these objectors see Title IX simply as another example of a meddling government trying to impose politically correct quotas on high schools and colleges” (Suggs). Although it is true that Title IX has inadvertently caused harm to some men’s programs across the nation, I do not believe it to be true that the law intentionally imposes effectively calling for the cutting of men’s sports. Instead, it is the faulty design of the law that persuades athletic departments to cut corners in order to be in compliance with the law. [...]